“That's the golf course. Mighty CC and Mighty Town belong to different groups, don't they? Simjin has the ski resorts and casinos completely under its control, so that's a different story.”
Among everyone seated around the table, the Nam family silently lowered their heads and swallowed their sighs.
You idiot. It's not like everyone here kept quiet because they didn't know that.
Under the table, Seonwoo kicked Nam Junwoo in the shin. At least Junwoo had enough sense not to shout at the dinner table. Clenching his jaw, he glared at Seonwoo and cursed him with his eyes.
The topic Junwoo had brought up prompted one of Iwon's great-uncles to join in.
“Speaking of that, did you hear the news? About Simjin. Apparently they were supposed to meet with President Choi Hyeongseok's side during the holiday.”
“What? How'd that happen?”
“Isn't Iri hanging around one of the Simjin kids these days? I heard they even attended Director Hwang's event together.”
Although the two were business partners, meeting over a holiday carried far more weight than that. It suggested either an extremely important business discussion or ties between the two families. Just like Iwon and Heejun.
For a moment, Eun Hyeonchae came to mind, but Seonwoo immediately remembered that the two were cousins and dismissed the thought.
“That's true, but the more important part is that the meeting fell through. You know President Choi Hyeongseok's villa in Taean? They were supposed to meet there this time, but apparently Simjin suddenly canceled.”
“Oh my. I suppose their relationship has soured.”
“Haha! They were so blinded by immediate profits that they shamelessly joined hands with Simjin. Serves them right.”
“Simjin isn't what it used to be. Isn't there even one child in that family with... certain flaws?”
Perhaps because he didn't want Heejun, who was visiting for the first time, to witness the family's dirty laundry, Iwon stood up first with Heejun.
“I'll take Heejun for a little walk. Show him around the house while we're at it. We'll excuse ourselves first.”
“All right.”
Seonwoo no longer had any appetite either, so he set down his utensils. Wondering when he should get up without making it awkward, he quietly observed the situation when a brief vibration came from his pocket.
Thinking it might be Iwon, he immediately pulled out his phone.
Instead, it was a text from Hyeonchae.
[Jeon and braised short ribs.]
[(Photo)]
The picture looked like something straight out of a magazine, every dish arranged as beautifully as a painting. His eyes were immediately drawn to the braised short ribs and jeon, deliberately placed front and center, and before he realized it, he was smiling.
Junwoo noticed Seonwoo grinning at his phone and kicked his leg under the table.
'Hey. What are you doing?'
Another vibration buzzed in Seonwoo's hand, and his attention immediately shifted away from Junwoo.
[What about you, senior?]
The message had arrived only three minutes after the previous one.
The moment he sensed the feelings hidden within those three minutes, Seonwoo stood up.
“I'll be heading out first as well.”
He hurried into the garden outside and called him.
The phone hadn't even rung twice before Hyeonchae answered.
“Hel- Hello.”
“Hello?”
Seonwoo chuckled at the terribly shaky voice and deliberately repeated the greeting teasingly, but Hyeonchae was too nervous to catch the joke.
“Is... is it really you, senior?”
“Yeah. It's Choi Iwon.”
“...That joke isn't funny.”
The voice instantly turned calm, making Seonwoo laugh even harder.
“I saw the picture. Everything looked amazing.”
“...Have you had dinner, senior?”
“Yeah. Though I couldn't eat much. It was kind of uncomfortable. Honestly, your family's food looked a lot better.”
“Would... would you like to come over?”
“I wish I could.”
“I mean it. I'll come pick you up.”
“How are you planning to pick me up when you don't even know where I am?”
“......”
Seonwoo laughed quietly at the meaningful silence that clearly meant yes.
“Just hearing your voice makes me so happy. When I saw the incoming call, I thought you'd say it was a wrong number and hang up.”
“What exactly do you take me for?”
“...Can I call you from now on?”
At the cautious question, Seonwoo absentmindedly ground the heel of his shoe into the grass.
Instead of answering, he changed the subject.
“Did you make songpyeon too?”
“Not yet. ...Do you like songpyeon?”
Not yet? Don't people usually make them the day before the holiday?
Without thinking much of it, Seonwoo continued.
“It's just... you know how dramas and textbooks always show families gathering together to make songpyeon during the holidays? It always looked nice. I was wondering if your family does that too.”
“...We do.”
“Really? Somehow I can't imagine you being very good at making them.”
Seonwoo had secretly been surprised that Simjin's family atmosphere was even more family-oriented than he'd expected. Seeing Hyeonchae make no attempt to claim he was good at it, even politely, Seonwoo couldn't resist teasing him.
“You know what they say? If you make pretty songpyeon, you'll marry someone handsome or beautiful.”
“...That's just a superstition.”
“So what if it is?”
Seonwoo smiled mischievously.
“I want to see the ones you make.”
From the other end came the unmistakable sound of someone sharply sucking in a breath.
* * *
In a mansion this enormous, it was strange for six people to squeeze themselves onto a four-seat sofa in a reception room that wasn't even two hundred square feet.
But at the moment, the size of the sofa wasn't something any of them cared about.
Because the youngest member of the family was smiling while talking to someone on the phone.
Eun Hyeonchae.
The precious youngest child of the Eun family, cherished by everyone from former Chairman Eun Jwahun downward. Born with everything, never having wanted for anything because whatever he needed was already in his hands before he even asked.
When the entire family first saw the child smile after overcoming countless hardships just to be born, every one of them had been enchanted.
But Hyeonchae had been born physically frail while also inheriting the traits of a dominant Alpha. Suffering from an unexplained illness, he spent most of his childhood in hospitals.
Feeling sorry for him, the family showered him with endless love.
No one noticed that something was slowly going wrong.
At some point, the child stopped smiling.
By the time they realized something was wrong, it was already too late.
The price they received in return for their endless affection was a weariness and emptiness that no child should ever possess.
They had cried countless times over Hyeonchae's complete indifference toward everything.
Then, the day before the holiday, the youngest suddenly said something strange.
He wanted braised short ribs and jeon.
Coming from someone who only ever asked for things out of necessity and never truly desired anything, those words stunned the family.
His second eldest sister, Eun Chaeyeon, asked several times if he'd really just said braised short ribs, while his eldest sister, Eun Ugyeong, immediately arranged luxury hotel catering.
After hearing the news, even Eun Uyeon and their parents canceled previously scheduled plans and hurried home out of concern.
An extravagant feast covered the table until its legs looked ready to collapse beneath the weight of the dishes.
A tense silence filled the room.
Hyeonchae came downstairs last and sat without paying the least attention to the heavy atmosphere.
That was when the strange behavior began.
Without taking a single bite, he pulled out his phone and started taking pictures.
Apparently dissatisfied, he shifted his seat little by little, snapping nearly ten photos before finally seeming satisfied enough to sit down.
Everyone around the table stared at him in complete shock.
“Now that everything's ready, shall we eat? ...Hyeonchae, you said you wanted braised short ribs.”
“Not really.”
Even President Choi, who had asked gently, raised an eyebrow as Hyeonchae suddenly looked even gloomier than before.
From the moment Hyeonchae refused to put down his phone, Uyeon and Ichae had sensed something unusual and exchanged meaningful glances.
Just then Hyeonchae abruptly stood up, answered his phone, and hurried out onto the terrace.
“Hel- Hello.”
At the anxious voice, unlike anything they'd ever heard from him before, Chairman Eun spilled the water he had been drinking, while President Choi dropped his knife.
Uyeon and Ichae locked eyes.
“I told you! It's real!”
“I knew he had a boyfriend!”
The first to sneak after him was Eun Ichae.
Everyone else abandoned the feast and crowded into the reception room connected to the terrace...
Which brought them to the present.
Each of them held a newspaper, tablet, or phone, pretending to mind their own business.
But every bit of their attention was fixed on Eun Hyeonchae talking outside.
“Have you had dinner, senior? ...Would you like to come over? I mean it. I'll come pick you up.”
Uyeon excitedly slapped Ichae on the back.
“Did you hear that? He called him senior!!”
“Ow! That hurts!”
Chairman Eun was already dabbing away the endless stream of tears with a tissue.
“Just hearing your voice makes me so happy. When I saw the incoming call, I thought you'd say it was a wrong number and hang up.”
The moment they heard Hyeonchae say he was so happy, even President Choi, who had been holding himself together, burst into tears.
While the couple embraced each other and cried, the four siblings were locked in fierce debate over their youngest brother.
“Is that really Eun Hyeonchae?”
“I told you he's dating someone! A hundred percent it's a campus relationship.”
“Didn't you hear him just now? He thought he'd get hung up on. They're not dating yet—they're still in the talking stage.”
“Maybe they just had a little fight.”
“So that's why he's been coming home late every day and acting strange lately. He's dating someone at school. Just who is this person that made Eun Hyeonchae act like that?”
“Should we put someone on him?”
“What if you get caught? Can you deal with the consequences?”
“Ugyeong's right. Don't go stirring things up. I'll quietly look into whether this child is a decent person...”
The sound of the call ending cut President Choi off.
At Ugyeong's signal, everyone immediately grabbed their newspapers and phones, pretending nothing had happened just as Hyeonchae walked in.
He looked strangely at the family huddled together on the tiny sofa.
“...What are you all doing over there?”
“Ahem. Who was that just now? It sounded like you were on the phone.”
“...Someone.”
As he walked past, Hyeonchae stopped beside Chairman Eun.
“Do you know how to make songpyeon?”
“Hm? Songpyeon? Why? Do you want some? Should I have someone buy it?”
“No. I have to make it myself.”
So I'll become handsome and cool.
Swallowing the rest of the sentence, Hyeonchae smiled quietly.